Drama Magnet
by Miss Number 1333641
Summary: AU, SoKaiRiku love triangle. When the aftermath of the gang violence between the Heartless and the Nobodies and the Committee is finally over and done with, things should be normal, right? 'Course not. It seems our Kairi has a knack for attracting drama.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Alright, I'm pretty sure I got this idea when I was watching this show with my cousin. It was all about this scene between Kairi and Naminé, and I gotta say I'm siding with Kairi. I hate those shows, and there's too many of them.**

**(Present)**

She sat on the examination table, speechless. The doctor's mouth kept moving, but she couldn't hear him at all. The blood pounding through her veins drowned out any other sound, and her eyes were fixed unseeingly on the doctor's face. There was no way. This was impossible.

She'd just practically been given a death sentence.

**(6 months ago...)**

"Naminé, let me choose the show this time!" Kairi whined, grumpy. "You always choose stupid shows about dumb people!"

"That's not true," Naminé said quietly, calmly holding the remote out of Kairi's reaching clutches. "I watch informational television about potential real-life situations."

"You watch bull shit about dumb-ass girls who get knocked up as teenagers!" Kairi retorted, finally leaning over enough to snatch the remote from her cousin. She flopped back against the couch and opened up the channel guide. "And, if it's not about stupid teens who get pregnant, it's about those idiotic hoes who sleep around and get knocked up and don't even know who it's by. I'm not even sure what's worse! We're watching the Comedy Channel. I need some good stand-up to distract me..." Kairi sighed as she tossed the remote onto the coffee table and pulled her legs up underneath her, running her hand through her auburn hair irritatedly. She felt Naminé's eyes on her, but pointedly ignored her cousin in favor of watching a cute guy do a random routine about getting into a fender bender, with something about monkeys and coconuts. After a while, Naminé gave up and started watching the show, too. Soon, both girls were laughing and having a good time, and Kairi was able to relax and unwind. Her troubles were nearly forgotten until, about an hour later, she sat back down after getting a drink and saw that Naminé was there with her "spill it" face on. Kairi sighed and sat down, looking at her blonde cousin expectantly.

Naminé looked her over with concerned blue eyes. "What's going on, babe?" Kairi had to smile at that; Naminé never used that word, it was Kairi who said it. Naminé was trying to get her to calm down, to open up. Kairi sighed and raked a hand through her hair. She fixed her cousin and best friend with hard blue-gray eyes and said, "Vault?"

"Vault," her cousin replied, not missing a beat. Naminé's face was open, expectant, and not judgmental. That was the best thing about the cute little blonde—you could tell that girl anything at all, and she wouldn't judge you. She'd just try to tell you exactly what she thought you needed to hear, and always tried to make you feel better. That's just the type of person Nam was. Whenever they needed to talk about a secret, all you had to say to Naminé was "vault", and it was in the vault, locked away and the only people with the key were Nam and whoever else the secret belonged to. It made Kairi feel a hundred, a thousand times better just knowing that she could talk to her cousin without any fear. So, she took a deep breath, pulled her legs up to hug her knees, and prepared to spill her heart out.

"As usual, it's got to do with _them_," she started, referencing her two best friends, Sora and Riku. Whenever there was a problem in her life, Sora and Riku were usually involved, but they weren't usually the source of her troubles; typically, they were part of the solution. However, recently, the two were Kairi's main cause of grief. "I just can't understand why they couldn't leave things the way they were! Things worked, they were simple! Now everything's confusing and complicated and there are hidden meanings all over the place, and I don't like it!" The auburn teen shouted, letting the dam give way. She usually bottled things up, and when she finally let it all go, she _let it go_. She continued, yelling, "It's not like they don't know that I care about them! I do, I really do, it's just that it's not fair for them to do this to me! It's not fair for them to do this to each other! They're practically brothers, yet they pull this kind of shit with each other?!"

Naminé, usually very quiet during Kairi's outbursts, had to interject. "What exactly is it that they're doing?"

Kairi sighed and let her head fall back to rest on the back of the couch. "They want me to choose. Both of them confessed that they're in love with me, and they want to know who I want to be with." She groaned and pressed her palms to her eyes, miserable. "They want me to ruin everything!"

The blonde thought for a moment, playing with one of the curls that was on her shoulder. This was some heavy stuff, and she wanted to choose her words very carefully."Well, Kai, do you love either of them? And don't just say yes right away, I mean I know you love both of them. My question is, are you _in love_ with either of them? Like, hardcore, want-to-spend-the-rest-of-my-life-with-you, love song type, old-school in love?"

Kairi sighed and said, "That's the thing, isn't it? I mean, it's natural that we'd fall for each other, I mean come on we practically know everything about each other, we grew up together, we've been through hell and back with the whole Heartless thing," Kairi shuddered, thinking again about their nasty run-in with a gang a couple years back, "and we'd all do absolutely anything for each other. Obviously they'd fall for me...and I'd fall for them." She looked Naminé in the eyes, pain and confusion shining through her own. "Nam, God help me but I think I'm in love with both of them. Hardcore, undeniably in love. I don't think I possibly _could_ choose," she whispered, and Naminé was pretty much floored. She never thought that Kairi—sensible, no-nonsense, anti-drama Kairi—would be the one to fall into a love triangle and not be able to choose between two guys. Kairi wasn't a romantic at all; she thought that Bella was a fickle bitch when she read Twilight, and said that being in love with two different people was bull shit, and yet here she was admitting that she herself was in love with two people. And it wasn't any two people, either—it was her two best friends, who in turn were like brothers to each other. Naminé blinked a couple times, then sighed and tried to think.

The blonde got up and grabbed her sketchbook and a pencil, sitting down next to Kairi purposefully and shoving the sketchbook towards her. "Alright," Naminé said authoritatively, "you're going to make a list of everything you love about each of them. Whoever has a longer list should be the one." It was a simple plan, and Kairi looked at her doubtfully, but proceeded to do it anyway.

A while later, Kairi threw down the pencil and sketchpad, and Naminé grabbed it and proceeded to look at the lists. She decided to look at Sora's first, because in her observations she was pretty sure that Kairi was more in love with him.

**Why do I love Sora?**  
He's so loyal. He'd do anything for his friends, especially for me.  
He's passionate. He knows what he believes in and his heart is solid—unwavering.  
He's so goofy. It's endearing when he acts so cute like that.  
His eyes are so deep. You can see the love pouring out of them.  
He's amazingly optimistic; nothing can get him down.

Naminé smiled at the list, unsurprised. Those were the things that most people loved about Sora. He was a very likeable person, and he had this infectious happiness and such a good heart. Naminé was pretty sure that Riku's list would be shorter, and if it wasn't it would be filled with things that didn't matter as much. However, she decided to look at his list with the same amount of respect and credulity she gave Sora's.

**Why do I love Riku?**  
He's relentless. No one can stop him when he wants something.  
He's objective towards himself. If someone proves him wrong, he embraces his flaws and tries to fix them.  
He has an amazing sense of duty towards his friends, and I can imagine it would carry over to the rest of his life.  
His eyes can't lie; even if he's trying to act like an ass, I can just look in his eyes and know the truth, and why he was acting that way in the first place.  
He's real. He understands the world, the way it works, and he knows what life is about.

Naminé was pleasantly surprised at that. The things that Kairi had written were not only real, good things to love about a person, they were things that Naminé could see her cousin loving about the guy. However, while Naminé was happily surprised by Kairi's admissions, the whole exercise was maddeningly unhelpful because there were five things on each list.

"Kai, did you put five on each list just to be unhelpful?" Naminé asked, slightly annoyed.

The redhead sighed. "No, I didn't even realize it until I threw the book down. Now do you see my problem? I'm certain that I'm in love with both of them. Ugh, that's so stupid! How can anyone be in love with two different people?! Especially two as different as Sora and Riku, I mean they're like land and sky!(1)" Kairi groaned, pulling on her hair. "It doesn't seem possible that I'm in love with both of them...I'm probably not. I'm probably just being stupid..."

"You're not being stupid," Naminé said firmly. "I can tell just by the way you interact with them—the way you guys walk, look at each other, hug each other—that you're in love with them. I mean, at first I thought it was only Sora, but honestly you act pretty much exactly the same with Riku, and this list proves that the things you love about Riku are substantial." The younger blonde fixed her cousin with a curious stare. "Just for the record, which of them are you more physically attracted to?"

Kairi blushed furiously and looked away. "I-I don't know!" she stuttered. But, Nam could see, Kairi was thinking about it, and she _did_ know who. Naminé shrieked, nearly giddy.

"Yes you doo-ooo-ooo!" she said as she poked the older girl in the ribs for emphasis. "C'mon, which one is it? Tell me! Tell me tell me tell me tell me tell me tell me te—"

"Fine!" Kairi did not want to listen to that for the next two hours, so she relented and decided to spill it. She looked around to make sure no one was listening, which was pointless because they were the only two in the house, and then she leaned in and whispered, "I'm pretty sure I'm more attracted to Riku."

"AAH! I knew it!~" Naminé squealed giddily. "Well, that was pretty much obvious, too. Riku is the hotter of the two, hands down. Are you physically attracted to Sora at all, though? Because relationships don't work without physical chemistry, Kai."

"Of course I'm physically attracted to Sora," Kairi spat, blushing. "I mean, what's not to be attracted to? He's tan, muscular, got a great face, has nice skin, his hair is soft, and his eyes are just so...You know?" Naminé smiled knowingly and nodded. Kairi continued, blushing even more, "But then there's Riku...I mean he's just so—God, I don't know how to explain it! Charismatic? Confident? I don't know, but he has this air about him that's sexy, you know? And he's got great skin and hair and muscles just like Sora, and while he's pale he's also a lot taller than Sora. Sora's got an air of cuteness about him, not sexiness. Cute is good, and all, but I don't know."

Naminé looked her right in the eye and asked, "Who do you have more sex dreams about?"

"NAMINÉ!"

**(5 months, 3 weeks ago)**

"Kairi, this is a little weird..."

"I'm with him on this one. Why are we doing this again?"

"Well, you wanted me to choose, right?" Kairi pointed out. "Well, this is me choosing. I choose both of you!"

"Kai, that's not choosing and you know it," Sora said, exasperated. "That's the exact opposite of choosing. I can understand that you don't want to hurt anyone, but the fact is that you need to. We'll accept whatever you decide, but you need to make a decision."

"For once, Sora's right," Riku said, raking a hand through his long silver tresses. "We can't share a girlfriend, Kai."

"Why not?" she asked. "It's been done before. And besides, I'm in love with both of you, so why can't I have both of you?"

"Don't you think that's a little selfish?" Riku asked, amused. His lips were quirked into that sexy, lazy smile he'd developed since they got him back from the Heartless and the Nobodies. Kairi found herself staring at the ex-gang member and blinked to refocus herself.

"Yes, it is, but that's not the point right now," the redhead said, irritated. "The point now is that unless something changes, there's no way that I'll be able to choose between you two. Not only are you guys my best friends in the whole world, but I'm sure that I'm in love with both of you. In addition to that, you two are best friends, too! If someone's going to be hurt, we need to make sure that it is the absolute right choice to make. So, if I date both of you, we might get a better idea of who I work with better, or who knows I might fall harder for one of you. But right now I love both of you." She sat down between them on the couch, putting a hand on Riku's knee while her other one intertwined with Sora's. "This is the only option I see right now."

"Was this Naminé's idea? Because it sounds like one of her soap operas..." Sora grumbled. He looked at Kairi, cobalt blue eyes searching hard while he gripped her hand tighter. "Are you sure that you don't love one of us more than the other? Even just a little bit?" He looked hurt, and Kairi felt a deep wrench in her gut, feeling guilty for hurting him. Obviously Sora would think that she loved him more; everyone thought that she and him belonged together. She let go of his hand and stroked the side of his face, an extremely tender gesture that was completely unlike any of the touches Kairi had given either of them in the past; this was a romantic caress. Sora's eyes widened in surprise at the contact.

"Sora," Kairi said gently, "even _I_ don't know exactly how I feel right now. I'm kind of new to this, you know? But I do know enough to be able to tell that I can't live without either of you." She turned to look at Riku, who she could tell immediately was uncomfortable and jealous at how she was touching Sora. So, she gave him a smile and ran her hand that had been on his knee through his silky silver hair, noticing him relax. She could tell that Riku was extremely threatened by Sora, and knew that this could be a potential problem for her joint relationship with them.

"Kairi," Riku's eyes, blue-green just like the sea, were skeptical. "Don't you think this would be kind of like Sora and I dating each other, too?" There was silence. Then, the three of them cracked up. They were laughing hysterically at the idea, not only because it was pretty ridiculous, but also because it had been suggested by several of their friends. They seemed to think that Sora's devotion to Riku was more than just a friendship-type thing, and after Sora openly admitted to being bisexual they were convinced that he was in love with Riku. However, Kairi knew that the two of them had never even considered the idea themselves. It was weird to think. Now that Riku had said it, she was beginning to picture the two boys buying each other Valentines and going to the movies hand-in-hand, and it just made her laugh harder. Her laughing harder made both Sora and Riku laugh harder, which in turn led them to falling over each other laughing until they were a pile on the couch, gasping for breath. Just then, Kairi's parents walked in the door, finding the three of them trying to catch their breath on the couch.

"...what's going on here...?" Kairi's dad asked, slowly. That just set them off again.

"St-stop! Ahahaha, I ca-I can't breathe!" Kairi managed to gasp out between laughs, which of course set Sora and Riku to laughing harder.

Sora clutched his abdomen, yelling, "Ow, ow, my diaphragm!" Riku and Kairi laughed harder because their friend had pronounced it wrong, and then the three of them were laughing so hard that they fell off of the couch and were in a pile on the floor, laughing and trying to catch their breath. Kairi's mom giggled and pushed her husband into the kitchen, shaking her head.

After a while, they were able to calm down and catch their breath. Somehow, they'd landed so that Riku was on his back on the floor, Kairi was on her back on top of him, and Sora was sprawled across them on his stomach. Once they were all breathing normally again, Sora rolled off of them so that he was lying on his side next to the two of them, and he closed his eyes, nuzzling Kairi's shoulder and stroking her arm. Kairi relaxed, leaning her head back against Riku's neck and shoulder, while Riku wrapped his arms around her waist. For a long time, the three of them just lay there, content.

They were also oblivious to Kairi's mom holding Kairi's dad back in the kitchen and he struggled to go lay some beat down on the two teenage boys.

**(5 months, 1 week ago)**

It was Sora and Kairi's first date. They were going to the movies, and Sora had picked Valentine's Day. It was supposed to be a cute, funny movie, and while Kairi agreed, she wasn't so sure that they should be seeing a romantic movie on their first date. However, she went along with it. Sora picked her up early, and when she opened the door, her mouth had dropped a little. She suspected that he'd had Roxas or someone help him get dressed, because he was wearing dark gray jeans, a black button-up, and a loose gold tie. His sleeves were rolled to his elbows and his hair, as usual, was in its cute chestnut spikes. She blushed when he looked at her, and she started wondering if what she wore was okay—it was a medium-length black pencil skirt, black furry boots, a pink baby tee and an open black sweater. She'd toyed with the idea of curling her hair, but decided against it and just left it as it normally was. She felt a little uncomfortable in the outfit, but Nam had told her that Sora would love it, so she wore it. She also wore a touch of black eyeliner and some mascara to enhance her eyes, and a tiny bit of pearly lip gloss. She saw the way that Sora was looking at her, and it made her smile, a little embarrassed, when he told her she looked beautiful. He drove them to the movies and let her pick the music, and paid for the tickets and, when Kairi insisted, let her pay for half of the snacks. He held her hand during the movie, and they were comfortable.

Kairi was surprised at just how easy it was, dating Sora. They got along famously, of course, because they knew each other inside and out. It was a little awkward, obviously, because that's how first dates were. About halfway through the movie, Kairi decided to lift up the arm separating their chairs, and leaned up against Sora, her head on his shoulder. She could almost see the smile on his face as he wrapped his arms around her, resting his head against hers. The remainder of the movie was spent like that, with smiles on both of their faces.

After the movie, Sora took them to get ice cream. Kairi grinned at the idea, because she hadn't had ice cream in a million years, it seemed! It was a cute end to the date, and Kairi loved that Sora put his own touch on a classic date. Sora got the sea-salt ice cream that he and his twin Roxas adored, while Kairi got cookie dough. They sat inside the ice cream parlor, just chatting and laughing about everything and nothing at the same time. He drove her home when they were done, parked the car and walked her to the door. Kairi thought it was adorable how gentlemanly he was being! At the door, he smiled, said goodnight, and leaned in and kissed her on the cheek.

Kairi was bubbly and giddy the rest of the night.

The next night, it was Riku's turn to take her out. He called her up an hour before he was supposed to pick her up and said, "Wear something normal and comfortable, not too fancy", so Kairi was pretty sure that it wouldn't be at an expensive restaurant like she'd feared. Riku's family was really well off, and she had been a little worried that Riku might shower her with money and gifts, but now that she thought about it she realized how stupid that sounded, even in her own head. Riku wasn't that type of guy. So, she dressed simply in jeans, her pink and purple Converse high-tops, a purple t-shirt and a black hoodie. When Riku showed up, he pulled into her driveway on his motorcycle, and Kairi nearly died. She loved his motorcycle, and he looked so cool riding it! She ran out the door, calling a farewell to her parents before her dad had the opportunity to see that she was going to be riding the screaming metal death machine. When she ran towards him, Riku held out a spare helmet for her.

"Safety first," he said, grinning. "You're not going to be scared, right?"

Kairi wasn't sure, but she knew she could trust Riku, so she grinned and pulled the helmet on, climbing onto the bike behind him and making sure to hold on to him tightly. He turned the bike around in the driveway, and before he got onto the street he turned and yelled over the din, "Let me know if I start to go too fast!" Kairi nodded and held onto his waist tighter, and Riku took off.

It was terrifying, exhilarating, fun, and awful all rolled into one! Being so close to the cars on the road, taking the turns at the speeds they were, it was all such a rush! Kairi was torn between being scared out of her mind and beside herself with joy. Eventually, she got used to it, and let out a whoop when Riku executed a particularly showy maneuver. By the time they got to the restaurant, Kairi was thoroughly in love with Riku's bike. Sure, it scared the hell out of her, but she trusted Riku to keep her safe when she was with him on it. They walked together into the diner, with Riku's arm slung comfortably over Kairi's shoulders. When they were seated, Kairi asked Riku what he was going to have.

"Probably the steak, with a side of fries," he said without looking at the menu. He probably came here a lot; Kairi had noted that it was about five minutes from where he worked. "I take it you're going to have the chicken Caesar salad, with the grilled chicken on the side?" he asked, grinning.

Kairi smiled, tilting her head. "How'd you know?"

Riku smiled knowingly. "You love salad, and since you had so much junk food on your date with Sora last night you wanted to keep tonight low-calorie, especially since I haven't told you what we're doing later. You even ordered the unsweetened iced tea instead of soda. The chicken would be on the side because you hate it when the chicken wilts the lettuce," he grinned at her. "You're pretty predictable, Kai."

Kairi leaned forward. "Yeah, I was going to ask. What _are_ we doing later? You wouldn't tell me on the phone."

"Ah, that would be because it is a surprise," Riku said, grinning at her. He had a great smile. "You wouldn't want to spoil the surprise, would you?"

Kairi pouted, but didn't press the issue. The rest of their dinner was spent laughing, talking, and occasionally throwing food at each other. Kairi had a great time, and it was a very easy, enjoyable evening. Riku refused to let her see the check, and left the tip in the envelope for the waiter so she couldn't even try to figure the bill out in her head. Riku was very old-fashioned, and the little redhead wasn't so sure how happy she was about that. She'd felt more at ease the night before when Sora had let her pay for some of the night. But, Riku smiled at her and slung his arm across her shoulders again and led her out the door. She leaned into the embrace, glad that it wasn't too romantic but also happy that he was alright with a display of affection like that. Riku was the type to keep his emotions to himself, so she'd been mildly worried that he might not like to do things like hold her hand and hug her in public. She smiled to herself, thinking that it was good that Riku knew her so well, because he knew exactly what kind of pace to set, and that made her feel so happy to have him.

They got back onto his motorcycle, and rode away probably faster than was intelligent, Kairi whooping and laughing like a maniac. She didn't know where Riku was taking her next, that is until she smelt the familiar smell of the ocean. They were getting really close to the beach! She had a feeling she knew exactly what Riku had in mind, and when he parked his bike by the docks and she saw the boat waiting she knew that she was right. She grinned as he helped her into the little rowboat, and they stayed in relative silence while he brought them closer to the little island with every stroke. Kairi watched as their childhood playground came closer and closer, and she felt a tug at her heart when she thought of how long it had been since they'd visited it last. After the whole thing with the Heartless and the Nobodies, it seemed like they were too distant from their childhood. Thinking about it, Kairi took a furtive glance at Riku's right forearm, bare now that he'd discarded his jacket because of the effort of rowing the boat. She could see in the fading sunlight the gang tattoo that the Nobodies had left on his arm, and she knew that a similar one for the Heartless was on the left side of his chest. Riku kept them as reminders of the mistakes of his youth, he said. Kairi knew that Sora had the Heartless tattoo also, as did she, but she'd had hers altered as soon as she'd turned eighteen so that she could forget that part of her life, and now it was actually a pretty sweet tramp stamp on her lower back. Now, Kairi wasn't a tramp—she was a virgin, actually—but as soon as she'd gotten the tattoo her father had flipped his lid, and now he didn't trust Kairi at all. She sighed, looking up to the stars that were just beginning to peek out, thinking about everything. It upset her that her father thought badly of her. She closed her eyes, trying to will away the negative energy; she was here, on a date with Riku, who she loved.

They landed the little boat at the dock, and Riku helped her out of the boat, again always the gentleman. Then, he smiled—a genuine smile, which didn't happen often—as he grabbed her hand and said, "Come on!" They started running, like they had when they were younger. They ran, laughing, until they had reached the little shack, climbed up the stairs, crossed the bridge and tagged the paopu tree. Kairi got there first, and she knew that Riku had let her win, but she didn't mind. They climbed up on the tree, laughing, and sat leaning against each other to catch their breath. They were able to watch the last of the sunset, and then, as the moon started to rise, Kairi heard footsteps behind them. She turned, and saw Sora walking up, dressed in his usual gym shorts, sneakers and t-shirt, grinning as he strolled leisurely toward them.

"Sora!" Kairi grinned at him. "What are you doing here?"

Sora smiled back, linking his hands behind his head as he came to lean up against the bent tree and said, "Riku invited me. He told me you guys would be here about this time."

Kairi, surprised, looked towards her silver-haired date, questioning. His teal eyes were looking out across the ocean, and the slight ocean breeze blew his bangs out of his eyes, and in them Kairi saw a swirling mix of emotions that she couldn't completely decode. But then, he grinned softly and looked at her, saying, "This is our place, the three of us. It wouldn't be right to be here without all of us." Kairi smiled fondly at him, and leaned her head against his shoulder. The three best friends spent the better part of an hour that way, at the tree, staring at the stars, talking about the good times, the bad times, and the future that might be. But, the evening had to end.

Sora was the first to leave. "I've got work in the morning, so I've gotta go. See you guys, love you Kairi," he said, walking away with his hands behind his head.

"Bye, Sor," Kairi said absently, still looking at the stars. "Love you, too." Kairi felt Riku stiffen with jealousy next to her, and she knew that she shouldn't have told Sora that she loved him while she was out with Riku, but it was a reflex and the normal response. So to make Riku feel better, she wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her head in the crook of his neck. "Jealous?" she asked quietly.

Riku sighed. "Remember when we were kids, and I always beat Sora at everything?" he said quietly. When Kairi nodded, he continued, "Well, it's the opposite now. Sora is the one who shines."

Kairi was silent for a while. Then, she hopped down from the paopu tree and held a hand out to him, ready to help him down. "I've never thought of one of you as better than the other," she said, smiling. Riku grinned back and took her hand, and they walked hand-in-hand back to the little boat. They remained in a content silence the whole boat ride back and the entire time they were on Riku's bike, Kairi clutching him for dear life. They reached her house ten minutes before her curfew, and Riku walked her to her door. Kairi smiled and told him that she had a great time, and Riku responded by gently taking her chin and pulling her in for a tender, sweet kiss. When he pulled away, Kairi's lips were still tingling from the feeling.

"Good night, Kairi. I love you," Riku whispered. Kairi could barely breathe.

"I love you, too," she whispered back. Riku walked away, revved up his motorcycle, and tore out of the drive. Kairi was still a little dazed when she walked in the door, and found her father waiting for her.

"Were you just on a _motorcycle_ with that Jenova boy?!" he nearly shrieked, his face red with anger and his fists shaking. Kairi looked up at him, feeling almost surreal.

"Yeah, I was," she said calmly. Her father looked like he was going to pop a blood vessel, but her mother was looking at her curiously. She smiled at them, saying, "Riku's a very good driver. I trust him with my life." She walked past her parents and up the stairs to her room, oblivious to her father's spluttering and spazzing. She got into her room, fell on her bed and stared at the ceiling for a moment. Then—

"WOOHOO!" she shouted, giggling like a little girl as she cuddled the closest thing, which happened to be her pillow. She proceeded to have a laughing fit, further baffling her father downstairs and causing her mother to smile knowingly.

First kisses rocked.

**AN: Mmkay, that's not where I expected this to go, but okay. At this point I'm just running with it. I'm not even sure which one she's going to end up with yet, but right now I'm leaning towards Riku, in case you didn't get that. Just a note, this is the longest single chapter I've ever written! Yay! I usually find a way to end chapters sooner, but I don't know, I just decided that this one should be longer. Well, read and review, and if you don't I don't care and if you do then flames will be added to that pile of crap I never look at in my closet. Thanks!**

**(1) Haha, bad pun because that's exactly what their names mean. =]**

**-kelly  
**


	2. Chapter 2

**Well, I'm still sort of leaning more towards Riku, because personally I think there should be more RikuKairi! I mean, there's plenty of SoRiku, and plenty of SoKai, but like no RiKai. It upsets me. But, I will still keep Sora in mind, because basically what fun would it be to not have a plot twist?**

**(Present)**

The doctor continued to speak, and Kairi could finally focus on what he was saying.

"—are several options that you have here," he said gently, knowing that he was laying a lot on her at once. "Are you alright?" he asked, concerned.

"B-but that's not possible!" Kairi finally blurted out. "It can't be right!"

**(4 months, 2 weeks ago)**

Kairi had gone on several more dates with Sora, and it was going quite nicely. He'd waited for the third date to kiss her, and when he did it was so perfect. They had gone to a Blitzball game, and when the team they were rooting for scored the winning goal they stood up and cheered with all the other fans, and he'd just looked at her, leaned in and kissed her, and of course it had been caught on the camera and displayed to the entire crowd along with several other couples kissing at that same general point in time, and Kairi had been _so_ embarrassed, but at the same time it was a cool feeling. She loved the fact that everyone there knew that she was with Sora. Kairi had become quite possessive of both him and Riku, although one would never have guessed by Riku's behavior. Speaking of which, she had a bone to pick with him.

They hadn't gone out on one single date since their first one, the dinner and then watching the sunset on the little island. She'd had one of the best nights of her life, and then it was like Riku just upped and decided that it wasn't important enough to spend time with Kairi—Sora made sure that he invited Kairi on at least one date a week, if not more now that school was lightening up because the seniors were mostly all accepted to at least one college and none of them were doing work anyway, so the teachers decided that assigning stuff was useless in the long run. Riku seemed to be spending more and more time working and with his family than anything else, and while Kairi understood that his family was important and should come before her sometimes, three weeks with practically no contact was getting on her nerves. He'd given her one of the best first kisses she'd ever had, and then poof! He'd vanished like it had been nothing, like it had been one of those dates you get set up on by one of your friends and you go on just so as not to be rude. He'd said he loved her! Didn't that mean anything to him?!

While Riku was being distant, she and Sora were getting closer and closer. It was so easy being with Sora! He loved everything about her, and he knew exactly what she liked, wanted, and needed. He set a pace in the relationship that was maybe a bit slow, but it made the environment more relaxed, less like there was pressure to be physical. Kairi wasn't sure how she felt about that, because yes she was a virgin but it's not like she'd never had a boyfriend before—she'd dated Tidus in middle school, although she didn't really count that, and she'd reluctantly been with Ansem during that whole awful experience with the Heartless, although he was blackmailing her so she really didn't count that either. Okay, so maybe Sora and Riku were her first serious, consensual boyfriends, but it's not like she'd never been kissed or felt up. She would have been fine if Sora set a faster pace, but then she wasn't sure if she could see him doing that; it was Sora, after all.

Currently, they were out ice skating, the last of the season now that the weather was getting warmer. Kairi was alright, at least able to stand up on the skates, but Sora was a bit overzealous and kept on falling down because he wanted to go faster, so he always lost his balance. Whenever he would, Kairi would laugh, help him up, and then they'd go slowly for a while, hand-in-hand, until Sora got tired of that and tried to go faster again. By the time they got off the ice, Sora was covered in bruises and they both had stitches in their sides from laughing at him. They got to the concession area, took off their skates and Sora got them each a hot chocolate, and an order of cheese fries to split. They talked about Sora's ice skating technique for a while, and then of course somehow the conversation turned to movies, then to actors, then to obsessions, and then of course to their friends, because that is of course the most logical progression of conversation.

"So, Sora, have you heard from Riku lately?" Kairi asked at one point. "I don't think I've talked to him since a week and a half ago, when I invited him to the movies and he turned me down because he was working. Have you seen him at all?"

Sora sighed, looking troubled. "He's been working a _lot_ recently," he admitted. "I don't think I've seen him at all in the past two weeks. Whenever I call him up to talk to him, he'll talk to me for a while but then if I invite him somewhere he'll turn me down and then say he's got something to do. I thought he was avoiding me because he was angry at me or something, but maybe he is really busy if he's been ditching you, too..."

"Or, he could be avoiding both of us," Kairi muttered bitterly. "I haven't seen him in person since our first date."

"For real?" Sora asked, astonished. "Wasn't that, like, three weeks ago?"

"Yeah. And, when I asked Axel if he'd seen Riku, Axel basically rushed me off the phone," she pouted. Axel, next to Sora, was Riku's best friend. Kairi had figured that Riku might be angry because of the situation with her dating both him and Sora, so she thought she might get a better answer from Axel than Sora since he was close to Riku and not involved in the whole dramatic triangle. Alas, she hadn't been able to get a smidgen of information from him, and it was really quite frustrating. She sighed, though, putting thoughts of Riku out of her head. She was here with Sora, not Riku, and she should be having a good time. Yes, she was worried about Riku, and she knew that Sora was too, but that didn't mean that it should interfere with their date. "So," she said, purposefully lightening her voice, "how many bruises do you think you'll have in the morning?" She and Sora laughed, grateful for the change of subject. The rest of their date was spent in happy banter, teasing, and then they started off towards Sora's car, dropping off the rented skates as they passed the rental desk. They got into Sora's car and started it up, blasting the heat so that the car would warm up before they actually started moving. While they were waiting, with the blowers pointed at the ceiling because the air was cold at first, Sora moved his seat way back so that he could stretch out his legs. Kairi just curled up in the passenger seat, content.

"So, do you want to go anywhere else after this or just back to your house?" Sora asked, stretching out all his limbs luxuriously, knowing that they'd be sore the following day. Kairi thought for a moment.

"...I don't know, maybe," she said, watching him. Their eyes caught, and suddenly they were leaning in towards each other, and then they were kissing. One of Sora's hands cupped the back of her neck, and her arms wound around his. Sora pulled her in closer, his other hand skimming down the side of her body until it was at her waist, gently urging her nearer. Kairi took the initiative and deepened the kiss, opening her mouth and swiping her tongue playfully across his lips. That was where the atmosphere changed.

Kairi found herself on top of Sora, straddling his lap while he probed her mouth with his tongue, tracing circles on her one hip with his hand. The kiss got more passionate as they pulled each other closer, wanting more. Their tongues wrestled for dominance, and both their hands set to wandering. Hers ran through his spiky brown hair, down his lean back and up his muscled, sweater-clad chest. The hand that he'd had on the back of her neck ran down the side of her body till it rested dangerously low on her hip, and the one that had been on the other side of her hip crept up her side until it brushed gently against her breast, causing her to gasp. Sora took the opportunity to take full control of the kiss, caressing her chest over her clothes as the hand on her hip ghosted across the exposed skin between her hoodie and her jeans. Kairi moaned into the kiss, and Sora grew bolder. The hand at her hip went up her shirt and before she knew it he was slipping it inside her bra to fondle her more, while the other switched and proceeded to rub her butt through her jeans. She made a wanton noise in the back of her throat when he rubbed his thumb over her nipple, and panted when he relinquished her mouth in favor of trailing kisses down her jaw to her neck. His mouth left burning, open kisses down the column of her throat, leaving her breathless and whispering his name, all the while his hands caressing her while her hands fisted his hair and pulled him in closer. He bit down on the junction of her collar bone, causing her to cry out. Then, out of nowhere, her cell phone rang.

They both froze at the sound. "The car's warm now..." Kairi commented shakily. They both started giggling as Kairi climbed off of Sora and into her own seat, fishing her phone out of her purse while Sora put his seat in the correct position and buckled his seat belt. She looked at the caller ID and noticed that it was her dad calling, and rolled her eyes as she put on her seat belt and flipped the phone open. "Hello?"

"_Where are you?"_ Her father, always the cheerful one, wasn't he? She aimed the car's heaters back to their normal spots as Sora pulled out of the parking lot.

"I'm in the car with Sora, we had a date today, remember?" She was aggravated that he kept treating her like a child, even though her mother, the government, and the rest of the free world accepted that she was an adult now that she was eighteen.

"_Where are you going?"_ He asked so many questions; could he _be_ any nosier?

"We went ice skating, Dad," she said, aggravated.

"_Oh, so you're on your way home?"_ He sounded much happier with that idea, although Kairi felt frustrated and her heart sank a bit.

"Yeah, so I guess I'll see you in a bit?" she said, trying to sound normal and not disappointed.

"_Yes, I'm already home and I'm making dinner. See you in a few,"_ he said, hanging up without even so much as a 'goodbye' or an 'I love you', but then Kairi was used to that by now. She sighed and hung up the phone, looking over at Sora.

"You gotta go home?" he asked, not taking his eyes off the road. Even though he tried to keep his voice light, she could hear the irritation in his tone. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair.

"Yup; Officer Dad is on patrol," she scoffed.

The rest of the car ride was spent with Sora pretending he wasn't upset and Kairi pretending she couldn't see the issue in his jeans.

---------

The next day, Kairi decided that she'd had enough of Riku's avoidance tactics, so she paid a surprise visit to his house. She parked her mom's car on the street outside the Jenova manor, and she had to admit that she was pretty intimidated. The guard at the gate recognized her and let her in, showing her along the pedestrian path to the manor ahead. She thanked him and walked up to the door, taking a deep breath before ringing the doorbell, hoping Riku answered the door and not—

—his father, Sephiroth. He was an extremely intimidating, frightening man, with cold green eyes and a commanding presence. Kairi had never felt comfortable around this man, not in all her years of knowing him, and he just had to be the one to open the door. "Yes?" he asked, even his voice scary. The sound sent shivers down her spine, but she came here with a purpose.

"I'm looking for Riku," she said, hopefully without fear or hesitation. "I haven't seen him for three weeks, and I'm really worried for him. Is he here, or is he working _again_?" She hadn't meant to sound bitter, but that's how it seemed to come out. Sephiroth raised an eyebrow, but stepped aside to let her in. He closed the door behind her and said, "Upstairs." The one thing about him was that, while his voice gave her the creeps, he didn't speak when it was unnecessary.

"Thank you," she said, then started climbing the stairs briskly. She knew which room was Riku's, which was a good thing since there were so many rooms. She quickly navigated to the door she needed, and knocked sharply. She heard Riku's voice telling her to come in, and he didn't sound good. He didn't sound sick or anything just...depressed. She opened the door and saw her Riku lying on his bed, still in his sleep pants, shirtless, hair a mess, staring blankly at the ceiling. He didn't even look at the door to see who it was, and so Kairi walked quietly over, leaving the door open only a crack, and sat down on his bed, one of her hands stroking his silky silver hair.

"Kairi?" he asked, finally looking at her. His cyan eyes were surrounded by dark circles, and he just looked all around awful. "What are you doing here?"

"What kind of girlfriend would I be if I didn't check on my boyfriend when I knew something was up?" she asked gently. When she'd gotten there, she'd been pissed. But, seeing Riku like he was, she had decided to change her approach. "What's wrong? Why have you been avoiding me?"

He turned away from her, closing his eyes. "Just forget about it, Kairi." The girl's eyes narrowed; oh no he didn't.

"Excuse me," she said, icy, "but are you saying that after barely speaking to me for three weeks after you tell me you love me, after three weeks of worrying and wondering, after three weeks of trying to figure out what I did wrong, you're telling me to _forget about it_?!" She was hissing by the end of her little tirade. She was back to angry mode. What was his problem?! However, Riku just rolled off the bed away from her and stood up, walking towards his window.

"Look, Kairi, I'm not fooling myself anymore," he said, and she could hear the bitterness and the anger in his voice. "You are in love with Sora, I get it. You two are great together, everyone expects you to get together and stay that way for the rest of your lives, you had the world's perfect first kiss, I get it. It's fine, just stop stringing me along. I knew all along that you were going to pick him; I only told you the truth about how I felt because I thought that it was the right thing to do, because best friends are honest with each other. If I'd known that this charade would follow, I would've kept my mouth shut so my hopes never got up in the first place. It's fine, okay?! Just go, be with Sora like you're meant to!" He was yelling at this point, and Riku wasn't a pretty person when he yelled. Kairi hated it when he did. "Just go so I can heal, alright?!"

Kairi was angered, hurt, and annoyed by his outburst. If that was how he really felt, then someone needed to slap some sense into him, and she was there, so she might as well. She stomped over to him, and when he started to turn around and say, "LOOK, Kairi—" she cut him off by pulling his face down to hers, kissing him hard. He stiffened up, not responding to the kiss at all, and Kairi knew that there were tears pricking at her eyes. When she pulled away, his eyes were hard and dark, and hers were teary.

"Riku," she whispered, trying not to cry. "Please tell me that I affect you the way you affect me. Please tell me that when I kiss you, your heart races and your breath stops, because if you don't feel the same then fine, but—" It was her turn to get cut off by a kiss, as Riku pulled her to him, hands on her face and kissing her gently, but demanding. She ran her hands up his bare chest and wrapped her arms around his neck, and they pulled each other closer. His hands went to her back and pulled her in until their chests were pressed together, and the kiss deepened as their tongues explored each others' mouths for the first time. Kairi's tears disappeared as she felt the same urgency from Riku that she was currently feeling, reassuring her that he needed her as much as she needed him. They broke apart for air, and while the kiss didn't last long it let them both communicate everything they needed to. Riku rested his forehead against Kairi's, letting his eyes close as he evened out his breathing. When he opened them, his eyes were expressive and honest, begging her to tell him the truth.

"Kairi, I meant it when I said I loved you," he murmured. "I really meant it, so I need to know that you honestly, truly love me like you love Sora, and you're not just doing this whole thing because you don't want to hurt one of us."

"Riku," Kairi giggled, "I love you. I really, honestly love you. I would die without you. I would take a bullet for you or Sora, any day of the week. I need you like I need air. And honestly, don't you think that if I didn't want to hurt one of you, I would've just picked in the beginning before we got even more attached?" She smiled and rubbed her nose against his affectionately. "Trust me, Riku. I definitely love you."

There was a flash, and Kairi turned just in time to see a hand with a camera retreating as someone ran away cackling like an idiot. "...Yazoo?"

"More likely Loz," Riku sighed. "I'm never going to live this down, am I?"

"Not in the foreseeable future."

**(3 months ago)**

Kairi's relationships with Sora and Riku went through the logical progression—well, as logical as you can get with two boyfriends. It was weird, at first, for her to be in a physical, romantic relationship with two people, but Kairi eventually got used to it, and even started comparing the two of them together. Sora was more gentle, and more easygoing with everything, and their physical relationship was no different. He didn't push things, which Kairi liked because she didn't feel pressured, and he took things at a pace that was in fact quite slow. Incidents like what had happened in the car after ice skating didn't really happen, especially since that had been a huge jump forward from where they had been previously, and because they rarely had alone time. If they were at Kairi's house they were under constant supervision by Officer Dad, and if they were at Sora's house they were always surrounded by people, be it Sora's father Cloud, his cousin Selphie and his uncle Leon, his mom Tifa, his aunt Rinoa, the family friends Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, and Goofy, or even just his twin Roxas. Sora's house was a veritable hive of activity, twenty-four/seven. This made it very difficult for him and Kairi to have their time together.

On the other hand, it was practically the opposite with Riku. First of all, Riku had no trouble being more...aggressive with their physical relationship. It wasn't like he was pushing Kairi or anything, because he seemed to have an innate knowledge of exactly where Kairi drew the line without her ever telling him. He was able to be assertive, leading their physical encounters, but never pushy or pressuring, for which Kairi was very grateful. She also kind of liked that he was bolder, because it was more exciting. While they didn't get to spend much time together because Riku was always working for his father's company, whenever they did they had no trouble finding somewhere to be alone. Riku's large house only held him, his father, and his three brothers, and it was never an issue to find a secluded room with a lock on the door. The Jenova family didn't entertain much, and the only one who ever tried to harass them was Loz, and even then it wasn't serious, just teasing. So, needless to say, Riku and Kairi's intimacy grew faster than anyone was expecting; their current situation, for instance.

Loz had taken to barging into Riku's room with a camera without announcement, and it led Kairi and Riku to look for a more private place to spend time. They were just running away from a camera-happy Loz when Riku grinned and pulled Kairi into one of the many supply closets that were used by the servants in Riku's house, which he said would be a great hiding place because the day Loz actually cleaned something was the day pigs flew. Indeed, they were able to hide in the closet, trying to quiet their breath from running, and they heard him stomp right past them. Kairi giggled quietly, and Riku pulled her close so that he could kiss her.

He nipped at her lower lip, making her gasp softly, which allowed him to slip his tongue into her mouth. Before she knew it, Kairi was up against the wall, with one of Riku's hands on the wall next to her head while the other was resting gently against her waist underneath her shirt. The hand in her shirt ghosted upwards, barely brushing her skin as the kiss grew more desperate. One of Kairi's hands reached up to tangle itself in Riku's silken locks, but his hands swiftly moved to catch hers, pinning them above her head at the wrists. Riku shifted his grip so that one hand was holding her wrists while she struggled, whining, while the other fell to the buttons on the shirt of Kairi's school uniform. She gasped as his mouth left hers, slowly removing one button at a time and measuring her reaction as he left hot kisses along her jaw. He nipped at her earlobe, making her gasp and then groan in pleasure and frustration as he finished undoing her shirt. Riku's mouth moved down to her neck, and noted the shudder that ran through Kairi's body and how her pulse picked up. He grinned against her skin.

"Sensitive neck, huh?" he smirked. "Good to know."

"Oh, shut u—ah!" Kairi panted as Riku bit down on her neck, not hard enough to mark it but more than enough to send electric shocks through her whole body. "Riku..." She could practically hear his ego purring, but she didn't care. He deserved it. She felt like she was on fire, in a totally good way. She tilted her head to give him better access to her neck as his nimble fingers found the clasp to her bra, which was conveniently in the front. He quickly undid it, and Kairi had to bite her lip to keep her voice down as he fondled her, paying special attention to the rosy buds. Riku licked her neck, making her moan in surprise. Then, he sucked hard on the junction at her collar bone, making her cry out and arch against him, and she felt just how excited he was. This sent a thrill through her, making her groan and whisper, "Please, Riku, let me touch you..." The hand that had been holding her wrists captive relocated to her but, groping and pulling her closer, making her shudder with pleasure. Her hands immediately disposed of Riku's t-shirt, dropping it somewhere. Riku bit, licked, and sucked his way back up the other side of Kairi's neck, back to her mouth, while she ran her fingers over the planes of his muscles up to his hair, tangling her fingers of one hand in it and pulling his mouth harshly closer to hers. When they broke apart for air, Kairi's other hand cupped Riku through his jeans, making him jolt.

"Want me to take care of that for you?" Kairi asked breathily. Riku nodded dumbly, slightly out of it, and Kairi nipped and bit at his neck and chest as she undid his belt and jeans, and slipped her hand inside his boxers. Riku groaned when her hand came into contact with his heated flesh, lightly stroking him, slowly and torturously. "Minx..." he bit out, and Kairi smiled as she began to pump his stiff arousal harder. Riku growled as he let his head fall onto the wall next to Kairi's, and she took pleasure in how she could affect him. When she rubbed her thumb across his head, Riku groaned her name and bucked into her hand, starting to get desperate. Kairi heard him panting in her ear, mumbling her name as she stroked him faster, the friction making him insane. Riku moaned quietly, saying, "I'm close Kai... I'm gonna—Nnh." He bit his lip as Kairi doubled her efforts, pumping him harder and faster. Moments later, he came growling her name, bucking into her hand as he rode out his orgasm. Kairi smiled, buttoning up his jeans and fixing his belt as Riku caught his breath. When he had, he took her face in both hand and gave her a slow, warm kiss that she couldn't help but smile into.

When he pulled away, he looked at her with gentle eyes. "I love you," he murmured, and she smiled and returned the sentiment. Riku smiled and pulled away, reclaiming his t-shirt as Kairi found a roll of paper towels and cleaned off her hand before fixing her own shirt. When they were both decent, Riku unlocked the door, opened it and looked both ways. When the coast was clear, he slipped out, and checked again. He motioned with his hand, signaling that it was good for Kairi to come out. They went back into his room stealthily, and she sat at his computer as he grabbed new jeans and boxers and went into the bathroom to change out of the soiled ones. When he came back, Kairi smiled and they kissed, and she gave him a resigned look. He raised an eyebrow, then looked at the clock. He sighed, then grabbed his coat and hers and they got ready to leave. He walked with her, hand-in-hand, to her car.

"Good night, Princess," he said, smirking. She rolled her eyes at him.

"Good night, o Knight in Shining Armor," she said, making him smile. They shared a goodbye kiss, and then she drove off, Riku watching until she was out of sight.

Kairi was giddy the whole way home, not having done that before to someone she wanted to do it for. I mean yeah, Ansem had demanded hand jobs, but that wasn't the same. She was floaty and dreamy as she walked in the door, hugging her mom and saying a passing hello to her dad as she walked up the stairs to her room. She did her homework in a haze of smiles and memories, and then took a hot shower. When she got out of the shower and wiped the mirror to clear it, she took one look at her neck and her eyes bugged out. There were at least three hickeys, including the large one on her collar bone.

Sora was going to be pissed.

---------

**Yeah, you know the drill, review please! Yum, wasn't that a delicious closet scene? =D**

**-kelly**


End file.
